ARTIST OF PALESTINE: VERA TAMARI

This is Vera Tamari's self portrait and a view of her studio. The self portrait dates from 1994 and measures 15 x 18 x 14 inches. Tamari makes bas-relief pictures from clay. She glazes and fires them herself. Often she assembles the single pictures from several pieces. Sometimes she paints on sections of the relief with traditional painting materials. Sometimes these pieces are arranged for a table top or are assembled on wooden boards and framed while at other times they are single pieces which hang with only a leather thong.
This is Vera Tamari's self

On the left is "Rhythms of the Past II" measuring 10 x 17 x 14 inches done in 1994, a sculpturral table tob work made up of small pictorial reliefs. On the right is "Rhythms of the Land"

I fell in love with her work when I first saw it at an
exhibition at the United Nations in New York. I was
uncomfortable on finding that it was made of
fired clay. How could something so fine be made of such fragile breakable
materials. Tamari had made things worse by making those reliefs large and
thin.

Three still life reliefs dating from 1994 and 1995. They measure between 7 and 14 inches.

During the past two springs I had an opportunity to visit Palestine
and became acquainted with Vera. As we talked about her art, I learnt
something about the aesthetics of fragility which so absorbed me on first
seeing her work. I began to wonder if this fragility is a metaphor for
all the destruction we Palestinians have seen of our homes and families.

On the left is "family" and, on the right is "Margo and Marie". Both are 14" x 10" and were done in 1993. These wonderful family scenes are like intimate little snap-shots. Tender views of old sisters and family groups with gestures familiar to me
from my own family. I found them sweet and moving. Vera Tamari is
impressive in the way in which she makes beauty from the things we
take for granted.

Vera Tamari was born in Yafa and now lives in one of the small
bits of Palestine left to us after the onslaught of Israeli settlers. She
teaches drawing, design, and mixed media at the University of BeirZeit.